Honeyed Banana

Snack

Recipe

While not everyone likes bananas for those of us that do they are a lightweight, sugary, easy to make snack the requires little effort and very few ingredients.

If you want your bananas crispy then use the recipe for Banana Chips. However if you like you bananas on the chewy side with even less preparation effort then this is the recipe for you.

The addition of honey may be overkill for some people as it does increase the sweetness on what is already a sweet snack. The lime juice doesn’t have as much impact on the taste that lemon juice will but does help to stop the bananas from discolouring too much during the drying process.

This recipe is designed for a food dehydrator however if you don’t own one then you can use a fan forced oven at a very low temperature (55-60 degrees celsius)

Approximate Calorie content

11 small-medium bananas peeled and raw is around 860grams

11 small-medium bananas-dried and cut in half is around 200grams

Approximate calories/100grams: 563calories

Ingredients

11 Medium Bananas peeled (100 grams each)

1 cup Lime juice

2 tablespoons Honey

Preparation Instructions

Peel 11 small-medium sized ripe bananas

Cut the bananas in half length ways

Pour the lime juice and honey into a shallow baking dish. I find that microwaving the honey for about 10 seconds first makes it pour and dilute into the lime juice much more easily

Dip the cut bananas into the lime/honey mixture. Ensure both side are coated with the liquid. This minimises the browning on the bananas as well as providing a slight tang. Place on the dehydration rack over the sink for a few minutes to allow any excess liquid to drain off. Do this away from the dehydrator heating mechanism to minimise ant mess

Assemble the food dehydrator. I recommend having an empty rack on the bottom to allow for a more even flow of air

Heat to approximately 55°-60°celsius (medium setting) for around four(6) hours then turn the bananas over. Take your time to minimise breaking the pieces

Heat for a further 5-6 hours

Once the banana slices have a leathery texture allow to cool and store in a airtight container in the cupboard. The bananas will appear a bit limp to start with but as they cool the texture will firm

Bananas cut in half and soaking in lime lime juice and honey. They just need to stay in long enough to coat

Honeyed Banana placed on the drying rack ready to dehydrate. Put the rounded side down first to minimise the banana sticking to the drying rack surface. ensure that the banana dont touch each other otherwise they stick together

Half way through the drying process, about six hours, Turn over and condense the trays as the drying bananas will take up less space

Honeyed banana ready to remove from the drying rack

Honeyed bananas dried and ready to eat. Note the slight sheen on the bananas from the honey